Clippings 5-13-09

* The Clippers beat Lehigh Valley 8-4 last night in the opening game of the series. The Clippers are 3-2 on the current home stand.

* OF Stephen Head was sent to a medical specialist in Cleveland to evaluate his knee. Some minor structural damage was found so Head has been complete shut down from all baseball activities for the next two weeks. Head was placed on the disabled list, retroactive to May 7th, because of a strain suffered while making a sliding catch in Durham two weeks ago. Head originally banged his knee against the outfield wall in an Indians spring training game in March.

* The Clippers added free agent signing RHP Blaine Neal on Monday. Neal pitched one inning, allowing one hit and two walks. Neal was released in spring training by the Phillies after a stellar season with Toledo last year. Neal was 1-0 with a 1.21 ERA in 36 games and 26 saves. Neal also pitched for the US Olympic Team in China.

* Right-hander Luis Vizcaino is expected to join the Indians bullpen this week. It was originally reported that he would join the Clippers, but now looks like he’ll go immediately to Cleveland in hopes of helping the bullpen. Vizcaino, 34, has played for seven previous big league teams. He is 34-27 with a 4.31 ERA in 532 games pitched over eleven seasons.

* Indians farm director Ross Adkins was in attendance for Monday and Tuesday’s games at Huntington Park. Adkins has been a busy man with players being shuttled to and from Cleveland. The Clippers have already made 46 transactions this season.

* Happy belated birthday to my brother Stuart (May 11), who taught me that drinking chocolate milk from a coffee cup is enough to make some people vomit.

* Pawtucket infielder Angel Chavez and Kirk Saarloos almost tangled on Saturday. Chavez grounded out and ran across the mound on his way back to the dugout. Saarloos shouted some words and Chavez stopped to retaliate. A couple Pawtucket players hustled out of the dugout, but the incident was quickly extinguished.

* Wes Hodges his first homer of the season on Sunday. It took 95 at-bats for Hodges to hit the first Triple-A home run (34th of his three-year career), but he’s played most of the season with a bad shoulder. Hodges has been strictly serving as designated hitter since April 27th because his rotator cuff is preventing him for throwing across the diamond. Hodges took some ground balls before Monday’s game, but he didn’t make any throws.

* Monday was the third anniversary of Andy Cannizaro’s walk-off homer at Cooper Stadium against The Richmond Braves. It is Cannizaro’s only game-winning homer run, coming in the 11th inning of a day game. Cannizaro has 15 career minor league homers and one in the bigs with Tampa Bay.

* Michael Brantley made the catch of the season on Saturday. If you missed, you can view it here. Brantley also homered in Tuesday’s game, hit first in Triple-A.

Game #2 of the series with the Iron Pigs is tonight at 6:35pm.